Today we had a fire and cook up at the community garden to belatedly celebrate the festival of Beltane.

We like to mark each traditional annual festival as it is a great way to stay in touch with the seasons and growing patterns. Beltane is usually celebrated between sunset on April 30th to sunset on May 1st but we celebrate it on the nearest dry day at the community garden. It represents the peak of Spring and the beginning of Summer.

The word 'Beltane' originates from the Celtic God 'Bel', meaning 'the bright one' and the Gaelic word 'teine' meaning fire. Together they make 'Bright Fire', or 'Goodly Fire' and traditionally bonfires were lit to honour the Sun. So we had a fire to celebrate the beginning of summer and hopefully say goodbye to a month of rain today!

Maria learned how to build a 'waffle' fire and light it with a steel.

Then we built it right up with collected wood on site. Once the base of the fire was really hot with coals it was ready to cook on.

The group members and some invited staff members enjoyed lunch of hot potatoes, beans and vegan cheese around the fire.

And we were lucky enough to have our very own bee mentor, Sarah entertaining us with her accordion. She's multi-talented! We sang a few tunes and played along with some percussion instruments too.

What a lovely way to bring in the summer! Now back to work :-)